The Driving Question for the evolution unit: "Is change inevitable for all living things?" All lessons are designed to provide the tool necessary for students to successfully answer this question. Throughout this three week journey, students will utilize a variety of learning strategies such as an inquiry lab, hands-on activities, group discussions and creative writing assignments to cater to various types of learning needs.
First, students will explore the theory of evolution by investigating driving forces such as natural selection, genetic variation, speciation and patterns of evolution. Next, students will examine the difference between theory and a scientific theory in addition to engaging in four mini-labs that will cohesively present four strong examples of evidence that support the theory of evolution. Furthermore, students will have the opportunity to share their opinion by writing an editorial piece to the fictious Evolution News Daily. To follow as part of an exit lesson, students will piece together the knowledge gained from lessons one through five and apply it by making connections between the theory of evolution and global events by researching the question "How does evolution contribute to society." Finally, students will be asked to revisit the driving question "Is change inevitable for all living things" by providing a short-response with supporting examples as the last question on the unit exam.
When planning this unit, there were several guiding questions that led me to design each lesson in such a way that would appeal to students, differeniate instruction and cover all the key topics. The questions were also used when designing the assessment as I wanted students to think about the 'big picture'. The guiding questions are as follows:
Guiding Questions
What does the theory of evolution actually say?
What scientists' work contribute to the theory of evolution?
How do organisms cope with the changing evironment?
What do the mechanisms of evolution suggest?
What are the forces behind natural selection, speciation, etc?
Does evolution occur in patterns?
How are new species formed?
Why is evolution such a hot topic?
How do we determine if evolution is just a theory?
What are the differences between a theory (common-use) verses a scientific theory?
How can we prove evolution occured?
How does evolution play a role in our society?
Is evolution still happening now?
Evolution
The Driving Question for the evolution unit: "Is change inevitable for all living things?" All lessons are designed to provide the tool necessary for students to successfully answer this question. Throughout this three week journey, students will utilize a variety of learning strategies such as an inquiry lab, hands-on activities, group discussions and creative writing assignments to cater to various types of learning needs.
First, students will explore the theory of evolution by investigating driving forces such as natural selection, genetic variation, speciation and patterns of evolution. Next, students will examine the difference between theory and a scientific theory in addition to engaging in four mini-labs that will cohesively present four strong examples of evidence that support the theory of evolution. Furthermore, students will have the opportunity to share their opinion by writing an editorial piece to the fictious Evolution News Daily. To follow as part of an exit lesson, students will piece together the knowledge gained from lessons one through five and apply it by making connections between the theory of evolution and global events by researching the question "How does evolution contribute to society." Finally, students will be asked to revisit the driving question "Is change inevitable for all living things" by providing a short-response with supporting examples as the last question on the unit exam.
When planning this unit, there were several guiding questions that led me to design each lesson in such a way that would appeal to students, differeniate instruction and cover all the key topics. The questions were also used when designing the assessment as I wanted students to think about the 'big picture'. The guiding questions are as follows:
Guiding Questions
What does the theory of evolution actually say?
What scientists' work contribute to the theory of evolution?
How do organisms cope with the changing evironment?
What do the mechanisms of evolution suggest?
What are the forces behind natural selection, speciation, etc?
Does evolution occur in patterns?
How are new species formed?
Why is evolution such a hot topic?
How do we determine if evolution is just a theory?
What are the differences between a theory (common-use) verses a scientific theory?
How can we prove evolution occured?
How does evolution play a role in our society?
Is evolution still happening now?
Return to Homepage